An unsettling controversy

The shadow cabinet’s promise to either review or revoke the Human Rights Act so that it doesn’t frustrate the enforcement of planning law – not to mention a scheme that will make intentional trespass a criminal offence – has been lambasted by opposition parties.

The Green Party accused Michael Howard of sinking to “new depths in political opportunism”, and Liberal Democrat housing spokesman Ed Davey has decried Howard’s “hypocrisy”.

“As Home Secretary it was Michael Howard who did most to reduce the number of legal Traveller sites,” he said.

Housing association Novas Group has had its say too, claiming that the Conservative strategy represents a “wasted opportunity” to challenge the social disadvantages that Gypsies face (page 10). Research from the British Medical Association has already shown that the travelling community has the lowest life expectancy and the highest child mortality rates of any group in the UK. Meanwhile a study conducted by the University of Sheffield and published in October 2004 concluded that conditions in the Gypsy community “were frequently seen to exacerbate ill health, and in particular to increase the stress and depression associated with a lack of choice and control and poor access to services”.

If a speech delivered earlier this week by Lord Avebury, president of the Advisory Council for the Education of Romanies and Travellers, is to be believed, this latest Conservative campaign would certainly decrease Traveller choice and control.

“If the mechanisms of the Housing and Planning acts are subverted by the inflammatory speeches of Tory politicians, egged on by their leader, both the Gypsies and the settled population are heading for a disaster,” he told the National Association of Gypsy and Traveller Officers conference.

And he continued: “The confrontations which result from unauthorised developments will escalate, and the social deprivation of the 4000 families without a lawful place to live will be handed down to the next generation.”

Travellers are expected to suffer intense disadvantage punctuated by vicious scapegoating

Considering this evidence, it’s clear that Michael Howard is right when he says that there is “one rule for Travellers and another for everyone else”.

The rule for Travellers seems to be that they are expected to suffer intense disadvantage punctuated by bouts of vicious scapegoating by the popular press and, it seems, the Conservative party. This is indeed an issue of double standards.

Cut

Ongoing reviews by the Commission for Racial Equality and the Social Exclusion Unit, together with guidance from the ODPM on how local authorities can interact with travellers in assessing their housing needs, should help to redress the balance. However, they are unlikely to fully counteract public reaction to the Conservative campaign.

While feelings are running high in government and professional organisations, the furore perpetuated by the Conservatives in the popular press will ensure that the settled population’s feelings run higher still.